Cottonwood Creek Elementary access target of roadwork

WASILLA — Somewhere on the list of roads to avoid at certain times in the Valley has to be Seward Meridian Parkway at the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, when the school day is beginning or ending at Cottonwood Creek Elementary.

The Mat-Su Borough and school district have worked for years to fix that daily traffic snarl, and an expanded driveway at the school has been described as a “partial fix.”

But two borough assembly members, though, say they think they’ve found a permanent solution.

Jim Colver and Ron Arvin said that when the state was buying land to expand Seward Meridian, some of it came from Cottonwood Creek. The school moved its fences away from the road and gave up a sizeable chunk of its sports fields.

Colver said that when the borough accepted the money the state paid for the land, he put the breaks on proceedings that would have added the funds to the borough’s general fund.

“I said, ‘whoa, wait a minute, let’s not just throw that cash in to feed the beast,’” Colver said.

Instead, he convinced the assembly to set the money aside to address access issues at the Cottonwood Creek Elementary.

Arvin said that when this construction season came around he lit a fire under the project to make sure crews cleared the trees before migratory birds returned to the Valley, putting a halt to that kind of work. He said deputy schools superintendent and a former military man Ken Forrest went to work immediately.

“Col. Forrest, he doesn’t mess around, the trees were coming down the next day,” Arvin said.

Well, maybe it took a couple of days, but still, Arvin said that meant construction could begin this season.

Forrest said the district called around and got multiple quotes before settling on one company.

So what’s the solution? In a nutshell, it’s a second driveway on the school site. More pavement means more room for parents to queue when dropping off or picking up their kids.

“It’s kind of bizarre that we’ve eaten up so much of this property with asphalt,” Colver said.

But Cottonwood Creek is kind of in a unique location, sited right at a major intersection rather than tucked away in a neighborhood.

The new driveway will be north of the school along Seward Meridian at exactly the spot the state plans to install a traffic signal once Seward Meridian has been widened. Work widening the road began last summer.

Arvin and Colver said the state doesn’t plan to install that stoplight for a couple of years, but they’re working to accelerate that timetable. They said they are hoping the Department of Transportation might be amenable to a temporary light — maybe just a traffic signal hanging on a wire for now.

In addition to the new driveway, the school will get its fields back — in the space between the school and the driveway. Colver said that was one of Cottonwood principal Lisa Vrvilo’s priorities. Forrest said the district is working to expedite that, too.

“We’re trying to find money in our budget to put (natural) turf on the field so the kids can use it more quickly,” he said.

Arvin said he sees the project is a harbinger of cooperation for other projects.

“The borough is going to see more of this,” he said.